Digital blues for much-hyped 2nd Raj cashless village in Bhilwara

The village, which was declared cashless by MP Subhash Baheria amid much fanfare on January 24, has its nearest ATM and bank 4km away.

TNN

February 27, 2017, 09:47 IST

Tharoda (Bhilwara): Poor cellular connectivity, power cuts and the absence of financial institutions have made a mockery of the claim made by the government of turning Tharoda in Bijolia tehsil, Bhilwara, into the second cashless village in the state.

The village, which was declared cashless by MP Subhash Baheria amid much fanfare on January 24, has its nearest ATM and bank 4km away. While most of the households have bank accounts-Bamashah and regular bank accounts linked to Aadhaar cards, none of the shops in the village have swipe machines as they are costly.

The presence of Paytm, the e-wallet which has become popular after demonetization appears to be the sole reason for giving the cashless status to this village. Net banking and credit/debit cards have not still made any inroads in the village.

The village, which has a population of 2,300 living in 407 households, including 43 BPL families, has 600 smart phones, according to a survey. It has 11 shops-one flour mill, medical store, saloon along with five general stores and three tea stalls.

TOI did a reality check in the village to find that this agrarian economy, where milkmen, fodder salesmen, maids, vegetable vendors, plumbers, electricians and agricultural labourers form a sizeable portion of the workforce, has no cashless mechanism to pay or accept wages or remuneration. While you find Paytm barcodes at all shops, they are only the second choice if you don't have cash.

"Yes, I declared this village cashless. My team did an extensive inspection and found that all transactions were cashless. I had tea in the village during the inauguration and paid through Paytm," Baheria told TOI.

The MP was repsonsible for informing the PMO about the cashless initiative in the village in his constituency. But when the district administration informed him about the grim reality of poor networks hampering cashless transactions, Baheria allocated funds to provide free WiFi to the village. This did not alter the situation. When villagers approached the minister of state for finance, Arjun Ram Meghwal, for the function to declare the village cashless, he refused due to negative feedback.

But Bhim Raj, husband of the village sarpanch, who presides over all functions and attends meetings on behalf of his wife Durga Devi, told TOI, "Since the village was declared cashless, I have been doing most of my transactions through Paytm. Even the tea which I have offered you will be paid through Paytm." However, soon after gloating over cashless transactions, he put in a rider, "Only Airtel data network works. Other networks-BSNL, Reliance Jio and Vodafone-rarely does."

Explaining the problems of turning the village into a cashless economy, Narayan Lal Dhakad, deputy pradhan, panchayat samiti, Bijolia, said, "Our entire tehsil is still suffering from demonetisation blues. We have three banks-Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India and ICICI -which deliver money just twice a week. Until January, the banks were delivering money once a week. But now the ATMs rarely have money. This situation has forced the villagers in the region like other rural areas in the country to look for alternative ways."

But the enforced cashless drive is costing every household dear as they have to shell out thrice the amount on additional data plans. "I pay Rs 300 only on a data plan which I activated post demonitization," said Sanjay Dhakkar, a tea shopowner.